In a previous blog, we talked about the birth of black holes from the remnants of massive stars, a spectacular act of nature, so much so that Quran takes oath on these falling stars and the ensuing singularity they hold within, referring to them as the greatest oaths taken by Allah swt.
In this blog we will visit one of the most bizarre aspects of a black hole: which is how it slows down time itself. We will also learn how Quran talks about the relativity of time in the realm of the divine, giving us exact numbers as if trying to help us come us with an equation or postulate. It is fascinating that some of the concepts of General Relativity that I came across while learning about black holes were mentioned in the Quran already. To the untrained eye, these mysteries remain hidden and unexplored but today we will respond to the call of Allah swt as He invites us again and again to reflect and explore the Quran.
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۚ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ غَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا۟ فِيهِ ٱخْتِلَـٰفًۭا كَثِيرًۭا
Do they not, then, ponder about the Qur’ān? Had it been from someone other than Allah, they would have found in it a great deal of discrepancy.
Quran is the miraculous word of Allah (swt) and as we explore these sacred words from the lens of an Astrophysicist, we should pause and reflect on the purpose of our effort. Our tadabbur is meant to increase our imaan and our closeness to Allah (swt) . The “maarifat” of the divine should give us goosebumps and send shivers down our spine. When we read and reflect on the word of Allah (swt) – it should fill us with awe and wonder and make our yearning stronger for the day when we eventually get to be in His presence. May we all be in His good grace on that day. Ameen
Mass curves Spacetime…
Before we talk about the Quranic connections, lets learn some bare basics of General Relativity. You might have heard that space and time are not two separate entities but rather two dimensions of the invisible and stretchy fabric of spacetime. And if a massive object is placed on this fabric, it gets curved just as if a ball is placed on a rubber sheet.
It makes intuitive sense that the more massive an object is, the more it will curve the fabric of spacetime.
Now lets think about how objects would move and interact on this stretchy fabric of spacetime. Taking the rubber sheet example again, you can readily see that if you were to shoot another ball across this rubber sheet, it won’t go straight, rather it will follow the curvature of the rubber sheet.
So massive bodies curve spacetime and the curved space, in turn, determines how other masses around it are going to move.
The fact is that anything with mass curves spacetime in its vicinity, even you and I. Only we aren’t massive enough to cause any noticeable indentation. Here is a nice clip by Brian Cox, my favorite physicist, he explains it so well:
Curved space warps time
Mass not only causes space to curve but it also warps time. The more massive an object is, the more time will slow down near its gravity well as compared to far from it. We see this even with our tiny planet Earth. GPS satellites circling the earth in an orbit 12,000 miles away from the surface experience time differently than you and I standing on the surface of the earth, closer to its center of gravity. Its a minuscule difference , yet measurable — our clocks run slower by about 45 microseconds a day!
This phenomenon of slowing down of time near a massive body is called Gravitational Time Dilation. Its not just a postulate or theory rather a well-proven fact, although it confuses many of us and doesn’t even seem intuitive.
But why so, you’d ask? Read this blog if you are interested in the why.
Black Holes – Nature’s ultimate Time Benders
Would it be surprising to you, if I were to say that the black holes are nature’s ultimate time-benders? Take the example of the super massive black hole Sagittarius A* , located at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. It has a radius of 22 million kilometers and a mass of more than four million times that of the sun. It’s super, super huge!
This is such a bizarre concept that it almost feels like science fiction, finding its way in movies and such. Some of you might recall the most perplexing moments in the movie “Interstellar”. There was a scene in the movie when the two main characters, Brand and Cooper travel to Miller’s planet, a planet near the black hole “Gargantua”. They spent a few hours exploring this tiny planet but when they returned back to their ship, they found their shipmate Romilly had aged 23 years!
Time Bending in the Realm of the Divine
Its amazing that Quran revealed this concept 1400 years ago, much before Einstein and the rest of the mankind was even aware of the warping of time near the gravitational well of a massive object. But did we ever notice that Quran talked about Gravitational Time Dilation, and in more than one places?
In a very pragmatic and matter-of-fact way, Quran mentions in Surah Al-Hajj, ayah 47:
وَيَسْتَعْجِلُونَكَ بِٱلْعَذَابِ وَلَن يُخْلِفَ ٱللَّهُ وَعْدَهُۥ ۚ وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِندَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍۢ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
They ask you to bring the punishment sooner, while Allah will never go back on His promise. In fact, one day with your Lord is like one thousand years according to your calculation.
Yet, at another instance, in Surah Sajdah, verse 4, Allah (swt) says:
يُدَبِّرُ ٱلْأَمْرَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرُجُ إِلَيْهِ فِى يَوْمٍۢ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُۥٓ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍۢ مِّمَّا تَعُدُّونَ
He manages (every) matter from the sky to the earth, then it (every matter) will ascend to Him in a day the measure of which is one thousand years according to the way you count.
1 day with Allah swt = 1000 Earth years = 365,000 Earth days!
Subhan Allah! This is mind-boggling. Traditional exegesis have explained this to simply say that time works differently in the realm of Allah (swt) . But did we ever decipher why so and what are its implications? Its only now, through our understanding of the relativity of time that we can comprehend the implications of time running infinitely slower in the realm of the divine. The understanding of the Gravitational Time Dilation informs us that the warping of time happens due to the mass of the bodies and the more massive an object is, the more it will warp or slow down time.
It means that the realm of Allah (swt) is gigantic — and just like a black hole, it warps and bends time in an extreme manner. The fact that time is running 365 thousand times slower in that realm indicates that it is an extremely massive place, way more massive than our tiny planet Earth.
The realm of Allah (swt) is gigantic — and just like a black hole, it warps and bends time in an extreme manner.
The massive Arsh of Allah (swt)
So is there a name to this realm of the divine? What do we call this place where Allah (swt) declares himself to be? In Quran, Allah (swt) has informed us that He, the Almighty, the Lord of the worlds, is positioned (istawa) over His Arsh ( in a manner that suits His majesty).
In surah Yunus, ayah 3, Allah (swt) says:
إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ فِى سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ
Surely, your Lord is Allah, the One who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and then He positioned Himself on the Throne.
This is Gravitational Time Dilation in the Arsh of Allah (swt) that we just discussed. An amazing consequence of the huge gravity well caused by the Arsh of Allah (swt) that it bends and warps time itself. It blows our minds to think about how amazingly huge Allah’s creation is, with His Arsh being the largest of all creation, above everything, and holding within it, everything else.
As we continue on our journey of reading and understanding the hidden secrets of the Quran, let our hearts marvel and our intellect be filled with awe, let our imagination be shaken, our gaze mesmerized and our consciousness be filled with the grandeur of the divine.
وَمَا قَدَرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْضُ جَمِيعًۭا قَبْضَتُهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ وَٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتُ مَطْوِيَّـٰتٌۢ بِيَمِينِهِۦ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
They did not hold Allah in His true esteem. The whole earth will be in a single grip of His hand on the Day of Doom, and the heavens (will be) rolled up on his right hand. Pure is He, far too higher than what they associate with Him.
Amazing masha Allah. May Allah increase you knowledge. Aameen
It’s a very fascinating concept. MashaAllah, you have amazingly explained the concept of gravitational time dilation with the verses of the Quran, and then at the end, you connected it to the Arsh of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. It really showed the majesty of Allah. Reading the ayah you mentioned at the end gave me a new understanding of Allah and His Arsh. He is really higher than what people associate with Him. It’s a very enlightening read. JazakAllah khair for sharing.
JAK for your encouraging comments, Sadaf. I did some reading on the Arsh of Allah (swt). We have rich hadith literature on the kursi, the arsh and the seven heavens. In shaa Allah I plan to write more of my reflections on this topic very soon. It fills my heart with awe to know of the grandeaur of His Arsh and His dominion. How amazing would He himself be if His creation is so grand? Subhan Allah.